1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to workload forecasting. More particularly, it relates to workload planning for demanufacturing operations such as dismantle and salvage.
2. Background Art
As the life cycle of computers and other complex electrical equipment continues to decrease due to new technology and improved processing performance, the useful life span of equipment has become correspondingly shorter. Dismantling this equipment and salvaging useful components and materials has become imperative from both an economic and environmental standpoint. As a result, dismantle and salvage companies are faced with an increasing volume and diversity of returned end of life equipment. That is, given the varying complexity of obsolete equipment, planning workload and staffing related to dismantle and salvage operations presents a significant challenge. Dynamic changes are required by such companies to meet the required capacity in people, space, and capital equipment—all costly investments. Therefore, the performance of demanufacturing operations becomes critical to not only ensuring proper environmental disposal options, but also improving process efficiency and minimizing expense.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved system and method for forecasting staffing and equipment requirements.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for forecasting staffing and equipment requirements for a demanufacturing enterprise.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for forecasting staffing and equipment requirements based on customer disposal plans and historical data.